Over the years, the American Cleaning Institute’s Annual Meeting & Industry Convention has evolved to include a thoughtful mix of regulatory presentations, business sessions and keynote speeches that have given attendees plenty to think about and act upon.
ACI members apparently like what they see and they turned out in a big way for the ACI’s Annual Meeting & Industry Convention.
According to ACI chairman, Amway’s Catherine Ehrenberger, attendance reached the highest level since ACI moved the annual meeting to Orlando. Furthermore, in an annual survey of its members, 89% of respondents said ACI provides good value.

That vote of confidence is probably due to the fact that the association is working for its members on a variety of fronts, many of which were described during an industry update session, which was provided by chairpersons of several ACI committees.
Ecolab’s Bill Phillips of the research, technology and regulation committee, reiterated the association’s strong support for modernization of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCSA).

“The US was once the gold standard of the chemical industry,” he told the audience. “Revising TSCA gives us the chance to recapture that.”

BASF’s Michael Heltzer, chairman of the government affairs committee, agreed that TSCA reform is critical noting that industry is strongly in favor of reforming the nearly 40 year-old Act, but he called the first few months of the new Congressional session critical to passage of reform. Sun Products’ Brian Del Buono noted, however, that TSCA reform must protect ACI member companies’ critical business information. 

Consumer affairs chairman David Brownley of Gojo reviewed the steps that ACI has taken to reduce accidental ingestion of liquid laundry detergent packets. He noted that in 2014, there were 11,711 reports of exposures to poison centers and more than 700 hospitalizations due to accidental ingestions. Furthermore, an ACI survey found that 88% of consumers improperly store these products. To improve these statistics, ACI’s Key Pledge urges consumers to:

• Keep single-load liquid laundry packets out of the reach of children;
• Educate your family and friends about the safe use and storage of these new laundry products; and
• You serve a key role in laundry safety.

More than 55,000 consumers have taken the pledge at KEYPledge.com.

Another program to keep kids and their families healthy is the Healthy Schools, Healthy People It’s a SNAP, which encourages the benefits of cleaning products. Now in its 12th year, the program has reached millions of consumers, according to ACI.

These and other efforts helped ACI generate a positive image for industry. The Association was featured in more than 3,000 news stories in 2014, with more than 2 billion impressions, according to an analysis by BurrellesLuce. More importantly, ACI was portrayed as credible in 99.9% of reports, according to Brownley.

Global Views
The annual meeting attracts representatives from more than 20 countries throughout the world. At the same time, ACI invites industry associations throughout the world to provide its members with an update on the issues impacting key markets. This year, the global industry update session included representatives from Mexico and India, to go along with speakers from Canada, the European Union, Australia, Japan and Brazil, underscoring the global nature of the cleaning industry and the issues impacting it.

“If you’re in trouble somewhere, you’re in trouble everywhere,” observed ACI president Ernie Rosenberg, which is why ACI has built alliances with associations around the world through the International Network of Cleaning Product Associations, which recently added India and Mexico to its membership.

Regardless of their local, many speakers lamented the increasing regulatory burden placed on their products.

“There is over-regulation of low-risk products for our members,” noted Bronwyn Capanna of Accord, which represents manufacturers and suppliers in Australia. Too many regulations, in turn, increase costs and prove to be barriers to innovation, she noted. “All our strategic activities on behalf of industry target this problem.”

And while the cleaning product segment has been growing faster than GDP for the past 10 years, the main barriers to the market are bureaucracy, high taxation and lack of market inspection, noted Maria Eugenia Proenca Saldanha of the Brazilian Cleaning Products Industry Association.

Carlos Berzunza of the Mexican Personal and Home Care Association agreed that barriers to trade continue to plague the $4.6 billion Mexican market, too. These barriers include registration requirements, additional testing and incompatible labeling.

The other newcomer to the session, Sanjay Trivedi, executive director, Indian Home & Personal Care Industry Association, provided an overview of his home market, noting that the $3.8 billion Indian household cleaning market continues to evolve, with laundry care sales growing 8.7% and dish care sales jumping 11.7% a year.

In Canada, the Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association (CCSPA) is awaiting final publication and implementation of Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, as well as pending regulations for volatile organic compounds, noted Shannon Coombes, president, CCSPA.

In Europe, the EU adopted measures to reduce accidental ingestion of liquid laundry packs. Some of these measures include: outer packaging must be opaque and include warning labels; packaging must close easily and be self-standing; and aversive agent must be incorporated into the film. Industry stakeholders have created a website, www.keepcapsfromkids.eu that is available in 25 languages.

Sustainability Champion
Martin Wolf, a recognized leader in sustainability and environmental chemistry in the cleaning products industry, was the 2015 recipient of the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) Elva Walker Spillane Distinguished Service Award, which was presented during ACI’s 2015 Annual Meeting & Industry Convention.

Wolf is the director of sustainability and authenticity at Seventh Generation Inc. He has more than 40 years of experience in industrial and environmental chemistry.

For the past decade, Wolf has been a leader and participant in ACI’s sustainability and consumer outreach programs. He served as the vice chairman and chairman of the sustainability committee (2010-2015), and as the vice chairman and chairman of the Strategic Advisory Committee (2007-2011) and remains active on that committee.

Wolf is also a major contributor to ACI’s research, technology and regulation committee and consumer affairs an outreach committee.

“Martin Wolf has brought intellect, determination, diplomacy, grace and a marvelous sense of humor to the table during his many years of activity at ACI,” said Rosenberg. “He has been and remains an outstanding contributor to ACI’s sustainability initiatives, which have blossomed during the past 10 years, thanks in part to Martin’s support, advice and immeasurable sweat equity.”

At Seventh Generation, Wolf has developed frameworks for environmental product design, helped educate his coworkers, customers, and consumers about the environmental impacts of consumer products and the industries that produce them, helped develop standards for voluntary ingredient disclosure, and brought change to the cleaning products industry through more sustainable product designs.

“I am deeply honored to receive ACI’s 2015 Elva Walker Spillane Distinguished Service Award,” said Wolf. “However, as with any award, as much as it is a recognition of any service I may have offered, the award is a reflection of the values and vision of this organization and its embrace of sustainability as part of its mission, principles and strategy.”

Mitt’s Views
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney waited until after the ACI Annual Meeting and Industry Convention to announce he would not wage a third campaign for the US Presidency. But he certainly sounded presidential when he told ACI meeting attendees exactly where he stood on eight issues that are important to him, the country and the world.  They include:

• Debt. It must be brought under control. He noted that debt already accounts for 70% of US gross domestic product.
• Worldwide carbon dioxide emissions. Romney called on China, the biggest emitter of CO2, to do more.
• Energy. While insisting, “I love renewable energy,” he predicted that coal and oil will continue to play a vital role for years to come;
• US poverty. Romney said jobs and a strong economy are the solution that has nagged the nation’s conscience for decades.
• Education. Young people are graduating without the necessary skills to succeed.
• Global poverty. Romney said the benefits of private enterprise must be introduced in countries such as China and India, as well as Latin America.
• A strong military. The US needs a military so strong that no foreign country would dare to challenge it.
• Global tensions. Hot spots such as China’s call for control of the South China Sea, must be met head on and diluted.

Taking a closer look at the issue of poverty in the US, which affects 45.3 million Americans, Romney said more must be done to reduce generational poverty in the country.

According to a Brookings Institute study, he noted, if Americans get married before they have children, hold a job and graduate high school, their chances of living in poverty are 3%. Without meeting those three criteria, the poverty rate soars to 70%.

What Lies Ahead
If Romney represented politics from the past, Jack Uldrich brought attendees back to the future with 10 trends that he said are transforming business. One of these trends is wearable technology such as Google Glass and Occulus Rift.

The former is being tested in hospitals to provide clinicians with real-time, hands-free patient information. The latter provides users with a high-end, virtual reality experience. In fact, Lexus is already using the technology to give virtual test drives to potential customers, according to Uldrich.

Another game changer is nanotechnology, an industry that has grown from $100 million a decade ago to $10 billion today and is projected to become a $100 billion business by 2020. Nanotechnology has led to the development of products such as graphene, a pure carbon material that is 200 times stronger than steel even though it is 60,000 times thinner than plastic wrap.

Another game-changing tend is the Internet of Things, which connects devices such as everyday consumer objects and industrial equipment to increase efficiency, enable new services or achieve other health, safety or environmental benefits. Uldrich predicted it will become the next Big Thing, spawning a $19 trillion industry.

Other big trends singled out by Ulrich included Big Data, genomics, renewable energy, computer processing power, artificial intelligence, collaborative consumption and robotics. Obviously, it’s a lot to think about.

“Devote 2% of your time to stepping away from your routine,” he advised the audience. “Give yourself permission to reflect on changes.”